Pitbulls In a Skirt 3 Read online

  When the boy was far enough from them he turned around and yelled, “You don’t even know how bad your life is getting ready to get do you?!” Then he laughed. “Take a good look at your friends and family because some of them won’t be alive after too much longer! You fucked with the wrong family, nigga!!” He said taking off running again. “The wrong family!”

  When he was out of sight, they all stopped in the middle of the street and stared in the direction the kid ran, as if he’d reappear and tell them who he was.

  “Who the fuck was that?” C asked.

  “I don’t know. But I’ma have to tell your mom’s about this.” Kit said. He tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”

  C didn’t move. “Why you gotta tell her shit? So she can worry?”

  Kit turned back around and said, “So she can know.”

  “You ain’t got to tell my mom’s nothing. She already got ya’ll riding me around every fucking where I go, I don’t want her worrying even more.” He paused. “It was just some snot nosed brat who’s jealous of me. Shit fine.”

  In The Gym

  C and Derrick had just finished up on the treadmill at Gold’s Gym in DC. He was replaying over and over what the boy said and wondered who he was with. What am I thinking about? It’s just a fucking kid.

  “You ready?” Derrick asked as his treadmill stopped. “We gotta hit the weights next.”

  “Yeah…I’m done.” C said wiping his face with a towel. “Spot me.”

  When they walked to the weights C layed down on the bench while Derrick handed him a weight bar with a hundred pounds on it.

  “What’s on your mind, C? I know you, and you ain’t been right ever since you got here. So what’s up? Or do I have to ask Wallace and Kit?”

  C hated how him and Mercedes always had a pipeline in on what was going on with him, because of Wallace and Kit. Eventually he would have to get rid of one of them because he knew two could keep a secret if one of them were fired.

  “Nothing, Derrick.” He said as sweat poured down his face.

  “C, I know you. Stop lying to me. What’s up?”

  “You ever feel like people are out to get you, but you don’t know who or why?”

  “Yeah…all the time.”

  “Well what you do when you have that feeling?”

  “You move carefully. You watch your back and you don’t do things you don’t have to.”

  “So you stop living?”

  “Naw, you live life to the fullest.” He lifted the weight off of C so he could rest after he’d raised it ten times. “But when you feel like people are after you, you don’t do shit unless you really want to. The reward has to be worth the risk.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “For instance, when you feel like somebody is after you, you don’t go to the movies for fun. You go to Mexico, Brazil, shit like that.”

  “I get it.” C layed back on the bench and Derrick handed him the weights again. “Derrick, what you think really happened to my father? How was he killed?”

  “C, didn’t your mother talk to you about this already?”

  “Yeah…but I just want to hear it from you.”

  “Black Water had him murdered, you know that.”

  “Yeah…I know.”

  “You still up at nights with him on your mind?”

  “Naw! I don’t be up at night thinking about shit.”

  “Okay, C.”

  “I’m serious.” He said trying to convince himself of a lie. “Why you ain’t been home a lot lately? Everything good with you and mom’s?”

  “Yeah…that’s my wife.” Derrick seemed nervous and almost dropped the weights on C’s head. “I just need to get away every now and again. You know how it is, your mom’s a firecracker sometimes.”

  “As long as everything’s cool.” C said. “She been real sad lately and I hate to see her like that.”

  “And you think it’s because of me?”

  “I don’t know what it’s about.”

  Right when Derrick said that one of C’s best friends, Daps came into the gym with two large bags. She didn’t see them watching her as she made her way from the front door to the girl’s locker room.

  “What Daps doing here?” C asked. “She got a membership?”

  “That’s your best friend, you tell me.”

  “I figured you knew, since you here every day.”

  “I don’t know, but I do know she been working out a lot lately. A girl like that likes to keep her body in order.” Derrick tapped C on the shoulder, “Now get up and add some more weight on that bar. I need you to spot me.”

  “Just ‘cause I’m not sweatin’ you like the rest of these bitches out here don’t mean I don’t want the relationship.”

  -Yvette

  After playing around with my three pitbull’s outside, we walked in the house. Once inside, the dogs ran around our Georgetown DC house like they owned the place until they walked into the room I made up for them. The room was decorated with large dog pillows and a floor model TV so they could watch their favorite show, I loved them so much. The moment I closed the door I thought about Chris. I know she’s mad at me but I don’t know what I did wrong...this time anyway. It seems like I’m making her mad all the time, even though I’m not trying to.

  The heat in my house was on high, and it felt like my nose was burning inside. Chris liked it real hot in the winter and instead of arguing with her about it, I usually just went about my business like it didn’t bother me.

  I had just gotten us this beautiful mahogany bedroom set and the smell of its newness rang heavily in the air with her Gucci men’s cologne and my wet dogs.

  Walking into the bedroom, I sat on the edge of the bed and took off my shoes. My maid and cook Rosa, was preparing fresh tacos in the kitchen and I hoped to grab a few before I left. Before eating, I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and I looked at my face in the mirror. Who the fuck am I? What is my life really about now that I don’t have Thick to tell me what to do anymore? Although it had been years since I’d killed him, in the end I always felt deeply lost without him. And in a lot of ways I needed him to tell me which direction to turn sometimes.

  “Where you going?” Chris asked, after I walked out of the bathroom connected to our bedroom. I didn’t hear her come in.

  “You hungry?” I asked, after I sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed one of my black Ugg boots from the floor. “Rosa cooking tacos tonight, the way you like ‘em. With the Velveeta cheese and stuff.”

  “Where are you going, Yvette?”

  “I’m meeting 'Cedes at her house tonight...we have a meeting. After that she wants me to go with her shopping.”

  "You hate shopping!"

  "I know, but I still gotta go. Her and Derrick been beefing lately and she needs somebody to talk to, and you know how I feel about my friends."

  Chris ran her hand through her short tapered curly hair; the edges were always shaped up nice and neat. I could tell she was about to go somewhere too because she wore her new True Religion jeans and a grey Polo cashmere sweater.

  “Whatever," she paused, "Anyway, I thought the meeting was last weekend.” Chris sat on the bed next to me and I turned away from her. Lately I was finding it hard to look into her eyes.

  “We didn’t get a chance to meet, Chris. I told you me and Carissa had a fight, or were you even listening to me?”

  “You told me but you ain’t say nothing ‘bout you leaving tonight, Yvette.”

  “Well I gotta go. This is business and you know that. It’s a possibility we might not be fuckin’ with Tyland Towers no more so this meeting is very important.” I said, standing up.

  “Yvette, I thought we were hanging out tonight. What happened to that?” She walked up to me and looked into my eyes.

  Damn. I had forgotten all about our date. "Oh, that's what you got dressed for?"

  "Yes, Yvette. I’m dressed for you."

  I walked to the mirror, placed
on my four-carat Vida earrings and looked at Chris through the mirror. “Look…I can’t go out with you tonight. I got a…”

  “Business to run,” she said finishing my sentence. “What about a relationship to run? You ain’t a part of that no more?”

  I turned around to face her. “Chris, stop the bullshit! I’m sick of you making me choose between Emerald City and you. Because for real, if I had to make a decision it wouldn’t be nice.”

  “So what you saying?”

  “You know what I’m saying. If I had to choose,” I paused, swallowing hard, “I…I don’t think you’d like my answer.”

  I don’t know what came over me. I guess part of me wanted her to just go on with her life. I hated that being with her forced me to question my sexuality. And it forced me to question who I really was. Every day we fought. Every day I’d threaten to leave, and every day she’d beg me to stay.

  “Yvette, I’m trying…I really am, but you making me want to walk away from this relationship for good.”

  “Whatever…like you’d really leave me.” I laughed. “You realized the moment you rolled up on me when we first met, that you couldn’t live without me.”

  “You really believe that don’t you?” She smirked.

  “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it.”

  “You gonna wish you ain’t never say no shit like that to me. I promise you.”

  “Well I’m saying the truth, Chris. Just ‘cause I’m not sweating you like the rest of these bitches out here don’t mean I don’t want the relationship.”

  She looked at me, gave me the look that could mean so many things and walked out the bedroom. I waited for a minute. Just didn’t move. I figured she would come back in the room and talk to me, but she didn’t.

  So I walked slowly into the living room knowing that if her coat was gone, she was really mad because she left without saying goodbye. Yep…her Gucci leather jacket was gone.

  “Ms. Yvette, the tacos are done. Would you like to taste?” Rosa asked with a thick accent.

  “No…just put it in the refrigerator. I’ll grab a few when I come back.”

  Right after I said that, I heard glass crash in my bedroom. I grabbed the extra gun I kept under the couch in the living room. My dogs barked wildly at the commotion.

  “MS. YVETTE…WHAT’S HAPPENING!?” Rosa said nervously holding her ears.

  “Shut the fuck up, Glock, Oozie and Nine!” I said yelling at my dogs. They quickly got quiet.

  When I went into my bedroom I saw my window was broken. Could Chris have carried it like that?

  “Rosa, call Johnson’s Handyman service, the number is on the refrigerator. Have them come fix my window as soon as possible.”

  “Is everything okay?” She said, still shaken up.

  “ROSA! DO WHAT THE FUCK I ASKED!”

  She ran into the kitchen to make the call. “And just so you know, I’m not hungry.” I told her.

  I saw the look on her face and knew what she wanted. Whenever she made me food, and I didn’t eat it, she knew it would go to waste. Usually I’d have her throw it away and no one would get to enjoy her cooking. But Rosa had eight kids and although she wouldn’t take extra money from me because she believed in working hard for her pay, she would take food.

  “You know what, take the tacos home. All I’m gonna do is throw it away anyway.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Yvette. Thank you.” She smiled, before making the call.

  I don’t know what happened to my window but I had to leave to meet Mercedes. I was about to grab my purse and head out the door when my cell rang. It was Mercedes and she was frantic.

  “Yvette, I need you to get over here! I’m about to kill Lil C’s ass!”

  “Cameron. My name’s Cameron!” Lil C yelled, in the background. “I wish you stop calling me that shit!”

  “Where are you?” I asked, hating how C was talking to his mother.

  “I’m at the apartment in Emerald City.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  I grabbed my keys and was on my way out the door until I ran into a familiar face outside on my steps. She looked better than she did when I last saw her and although I was sure she was clean, there was something deceitful in her eyes.

  “Ma…what are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you?”

  Not knowing what else to say I said, “Did you just break my window?”

  “No. But I saw some kids running away. Who were they?”

  “I…I don’t know.” I said, looking as far as my eyes could take me outside. Redirecting my attention to her I said, “What do you want?”

  “Yvette…baby…I came to see you. I miss you!”

  “Fuck all that…the only thing I care about is Roger.”

  - Loretta

  The moment her daughter left the house, Loretta jumped on the phone to make a call. She was nervous because she’d never done anything like this before, but in her mind he was worth it. Walking a few feet from Rosa who had been looking at her with evil eyes, she grabbed the phone to make the call.

  “I’m in her house.” She whispered excited at her early victory. “I’m not sure yet, but I think I can convince her to let me stay here.”

  “I really can’t believe it. I mean, even though you were a strung out ass bitch, you must’ve gotten something right for her to be so trustworthy.”

  Silence.

  “Fuck all that…the only thing I care about is Roger. I want to make sure when I do this that you’ll leave him alone. I need him to get better.”

  “Loretta, if everything checks out, your precious Roger is free.”

  “She had a body I wished she’d been blessed with after she left my house.”

  Carissa

  “Hey, is this Carissa?”

  “Yes?” I said answering my cell.

  “I’m calling to see if we can fuck?”

  “How did you get my number?!” When he didn’t respond I hung up.

  I had been receiving calls like that all day and figured I’d have to change my number sooner or later. Right now the prank calls were the least of my worries, my fast ass daughter was first and foremost.

  I was having a drink in my Yacht where my girls and I spent most of our time. If I could help it, I preferred for us to stay on the Docks instead of Emerald City. Mainly because my daughter was starting to smell herself and she was chasing grown men. I was gonna have to do something about it because she’s only sixteen years old, yet she act like she a grown ass woman sometimes. And then there was her problem with alcohol…I mean, just because I have a drink don’t mean she has to.

  “Girl, I told you that nigga dumb as shit! I don’t know why you ain’t believe me. I’m ‘bout to go on his Facebook page right now.” My oldest daughter Persia said on the phone. She was sitting on the phone in her bedroom running her fucking mouth. Her clothes were thrown across the floor and nothing was hung up in her closet. The worst part about it was, we had a maid. So what really was her problem?

  “Persia, we gotta talk. Get off the phone.” I said hanging in her doorway.

  She put her hand on the receiver and said, “Dang, ma. I know you see me on the phone and shit. What you want?” She wasn’t wearing anything but her pink bra and matching panties. Just like me, she loved to walk around the house naked.

  “Persia, watch your fucking mouth! And you need to clean your room.”

  “Clean my room why? I mean, what the fuck we paying Evelyn for?”

  She rolled her eyes and flung her long soft hair. She had a body I wished she’d been blessed with after she left my house. Her big breasts, small waist and thick pink lips had men chasing behind her and had me going crazy. If Lavelle was here…I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit. And it was times like these, I wished I never gave the order to have him killed. I…I miss him so much.

  As she ran her mouth, I looked at the large mirror against her wall. I’d spent five thousand dollars for that mirror, a mirror she said she could
n’t live without. Now it was shattered beyond imagination due to her breaking it when she was in one of her moods. She had a problem reacting immediately on her feelings when she was mad or sad, instead of giving herself some time to cool down. Her other passion? Guns. She played with them a lot and I had to lock them up in my house to keep her out.

  “Persia, get off the phone. I wanna talk to you.”

  “Ma…please!” She yelled. “Stop being a fucking hater.”

  “Bitch, I gotta talk to you so get the fuck off the phone.” She didn’t. “Now, Persia!”

  “Sugar, I’ma call you back. My mother over here acting like a bitch,” she said hanging up.

  I walked into her room and she sat on the edge of her bed. The moment I sat down, she jumped up and threw on the pink velour sweatpants that were on the floor. The velvet material hugged her curves a little too closely for my taste.

  “What, ma?” She said grabbing the matching jacket from under her bed. “You got me off the phone and now all you doing is staring and shit.”

  Even though she was mad at me she was still my baby and all I wanted to do was hug her.

  “Persia…I…well, I wanna talk to you about some stuff I’ve been hearing.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, somebody told me you’re not acting like a young lady should when you at the parties I host.”

  Persia burst into laughter and said, “I’m not acting like a lady?” She repeated. “Mama, please! How would you know what I do when you always drunk? As a matter of fact, the only time you talk to me is when you ask me to pour you another cup of vodka. ”

  She got up and walked into the kitchen and I was right on her tail. My ten-year-old daughter Treasure was in the living room with her friend Bria and I could see the nervous look in her eyes. She was silently begging me not to argue with Persia in front of her company but for now I didn’t care. Persia was way out of line and I had to put her in her place.

  “Bria, why don’t you call your mother so she can come get you, honey. I gotta talk to my daughter in private. You can come back tomorrow to hang out with Treasure.”